Dr. Rajendra Bothra (Photo: The Pain Center)
As bonds go, this is a whopper.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy of Detroit granted a record $7-million bond Tuesday for Dr. Rajendra Bothra, 77, of Bloomfield Hills, who is accused of being the architect of a nearly $500-million health care fraud, Robert Snell of The Detroit News reports.
The bond was set despite the government's concern the doctor has hidden money that could bankroll an escape to his native India.
Snell writes:
The amount shattered the previous record-high bond of $4.5 million granted two years ago to Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, who is charged in the nation's first case involving female genital mutilation.
Bothra, the lead defendant in one of the largest health care fraud cases in U.S. history, must liquidate an $8.5 million retirement account to cover the bond, a process that could take three days. Bothra will be released on home confinement and tracked by a GPS tether and must identify all assets under penalty of perjury.
Dr. Bothra is one of six doctors indicted last month on charges of Medicare and Medicaid fraud and cheating the government out of almost $500 million and fueling the nation's opioid epidemic by illegally prescribing more than 13 million doses of prescription pain medication, the News reported.
